Editing Kim Jong-il (section)

== Ruler of North Korea ==
On July 8, 1994, [[Kim Il-sung]] died at the age of 82 from a heart attack. However, it took 3 years for Jong-il to consolidate his power. On January 1, 1995, Jong-il inspected a unit of the Korean People's Army, which was his first official action as his father's successor. This act came amid much speculation over North Korea's direction after Il-sung's death. On October 10, Jong-il reviewed a massive military parade and a procession of 1,000,000 people in Pyongyang, marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the country's ruling Workers' Party of Korea in what was his first major public appearance after his father's death.

He officially took over his father's old post as General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea on October 8, 1997. In 1998, he was reelected as chairman of the National Defense Commission, and that post was declared to be "the highest post of the state"; most sources outside North Korea reckoned Jong-il as North Korea's head of state from that date. Also in 1998, the Supreme People's Assembly wrote the president's post out of the constitution in memory of Kim Il-sung, who was designated the country's "Eternal President." It can be argued, though, that he became the country's undisputed leader when he became leader of the Workers' Party; in most communist countries the party leader is the most powerful person in the country.

Officially, Jong-il was part of a triumvirate heading the executive branch of the North Korean government along with Premier Choe Yong-rim and parliament chairman Kim Yong-nam (no relations). Each nominally held powers equivalent to a third of a president's powers in most other presidential systems. Jong-il was commander of the armed forces, Yong-rim headed the government and Yong-nam handled foreign relations. In practice, however, Jong-il exercised absolute control over the government and the country. Although not required to stand for popular election to his key offices, he was unanimously elected to the Supreme People's Assembly every 5 years, representing a military constituency, because of his concurrent capacities as KPA Supreme Commander and Chairman of the DPRK NDC.

=== Economic policies ===
The state-controlled economy of North Korea struggled throughout the 1990s, primarily because of mismanagement. In addition, North Korea experienced severe floods in the mid-1990s, exacerbated by poor land management. This, compounded with only 18% arable land and an inability to import the goods necessary to sustain industry, led to an immense famine and left North Korea in economic shambles. Faced with a country in decay, Jong-il adopted a "Military-First" policy (선군정치, Sŏn'gun chŏngch'i) to strengthen the country and reinforce the regime. On the national scale, a North Korean spokesman has claimed that this has resulted in a positive growth rate for the country since 1996, with the implementation of "landmark socialist-type market economic practices" in 2002 keeping the North afloat despite a continued dependency on foreign aid for food

In the wake of the devastation of the 1990s, the government began formally approving some activity of small-scale bartering and trade. As observed by Daniel Sneider, associate director for research at the Stanford University Asia-Pacific Research Center, this flirtation with capitalism was "fairly limited, but — especially compared to the past — there are now remarkable markets that create the semblance of a free market system."

In 2002, Jong-il declared that "money should be capable of measuring the worth of all commodities." These gestures toward economic reform mirror similar actions taken by the [[Communist Party of China]] in the late 1980s and early 90s. During a rare visit in 2006, Jong-il expressed admiration for China's rapid economic progress.

=== Foreign relations ===
[[File:Vladimir Putin 4 August 2001-1.jpg|thumb|220x220px|Kim talking with Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] during their 2001 meeting in Moscow.]]
Kim was known as a skilled and manipulative diplomat. In 1998, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung implemented the "Sunshine Policy" to improve North-South relations and to allow South Korean companies to start projects in the North. Kim announced plans to import and develop new technologies to develop North Korea's fledgling software industry. As a result of the new policy, the Kaesong Industrial Park was constructed in 2003 just north of the de-militarized zone.

=== Human rights record ===
According to a 2004 Human Rights Watch report, the North Korean government under Kim was "among the world's most repressive governments", having up to 200,000 political prisoners according to U.S. and South Korean officials, and no freedom of the press or religion, political opposition or equal education: "Virtually every aspect of political, social, and economic life is controlled by the government."<ref name = atrocities></ref><ref>[https://www.hrw.org/news/2004/04/15/speak-out-about-human-rights-north-korea Speak Out About Human Rights In North Korea], Human Rights Watch</ref>

Jong-il's government was accused of [[crimes against humanity]] for its alleged culpability in creating and prolonging the 1990s famine.<ref name = atrocities>[https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/19/north-korea-kim-jong-ils-legacy-mass-atrocity North Korea: Kim Jong-Il’s Legacy of Mass Atrocity], Human Rights Watch</ref>